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NEWS

Report on Selected Technologies by Paul West

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EDUCATION

Although the information age is dawning rapidly worldwide, Oxfam

International has warned that more than 25% of the world's

primary-school-age children are not attending, or are leaving school early.

The consequent lack of reading and writing skills will force them into a

life of poverty. The information age and the technologies it employs need to

be harnessed effectively to provide education to more people than those

currently being educated by means of the traditional chalk-and-talk and

print-based systems. Larger numbers of people need to enjoy the benefits of

education, with fewer restrictions.

The initial funding of the Western Governors' University

application of US$8M has been mentioned as a means of getting the university

back on track. The university aims to be a clearinghouse for learners who

want to register through any of their members' institutions and negotiate

the transfer of course credits. A few of the universities that seem to be

progressing include Phoenix University, Golden Gate University's CyberCampus

and Penn State University's Global Campus. Columbia University has decided

to not only move all its content to the Internet but also to make it

commercially available to people besides its registered students. The

A group calling itself the World Association for Online Education aims to

work across institutions and countries in support of online education. The

English site is at:http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/WAOE-founding.html

Another publisher is beginning to make inroads into the distance education

university on the Internet. The publisher intends offering all of its

courses via distance education. Other publishers have seen the opportunity

and are marketing their books and interactive software via the net. You may

be interested in perusing the free Academic Press Dictionary of Science and

Distance education (DE) seems a far-off concept to some writers, who believe

that DE via the Internet is not going to threaten the existence of

"brick-and-ivy" institutions. One author recently said this in an article

published in InfoWorld. It seems some have already forgotten the generations

of people who have been educated via print, TV and radio and who have been

productive people in all sectors for many years. The Internet is certainly

placing new pressures on institutions, but only by those people who have

access to, and who insist on, the freedom and speed the Internet offers.

This "new breed" of customers is likely to make many people in DE feel very

uncomfortable, especially once they realise that queries and requests must

be handled in far less time than was the case in the in the "old DE world".

Service times are likely to be the "make-or-break" for many institutions

that are in, or are entering the DE field, and are using the Internet as

their primary communication medium.

A leading provider of virtual classroom environments, BlackBoard Inc. has

closed a deal to secure a second round of financing to the amount of US$12M.

The company says it has a customer base of more than 200 colleges and

universities, over 3000 faculties that use its services, and 250 000 end

users. The basic classroom is free-of-charge while additional functionality

integrated package including a registration system for institutions will be

offered from early 2000.

E-COMMERCE

Computer manufacturers have taken Pup the opportunity to sell their hard and

software via the Internet. Many companies offer discounted prices where

software is delivered via the Internet and no package has to pass through

the snail-mail system. Computer manufacturers like Dell, Compaq and

Hewlett-Packard now allow you to design your next PC on their web site (the

price is calculated automatically as you design the computer), and pay

online. They'll then build and ship the computer to you from their nearest

facility. The warrantees remain as they used to, and you receive a

ready-to-operate PC that obviates the effort required to make components

E-commerce is expected to give companies new ways of attracting clients, but

some surveys are showing that 67% of online purchases on the Internet are

abandoned due to a lack of real-time online customer service and support.

For those companies able to provide the expected levels of high-speed

service via the Internet, there are still opportunities for more so-called

"instant millionaires"! Technical staff may not become instant millionaires,

but their ongoing shortage is pushing up their salaries. According to the

American Electronics Association, this skills-shortage will continue to

rise, enabling high-tech workers to switch jobs with ease and command

increasingly higher salaries.

Consultants Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer express the belief that the

connected economy is a "blur" and can only be viewed through a lens that

sees change as a constant. In their book "Blur: The Speed of Change in the

Connected Economy", they say the conventional wisdom of developing products

by starting with the customer's needs, is not necessarily correct. They

assert that the product now needs to be so good that it can educate the

customer and help the customer to educate you. You need to co-develop the

product with the customer, as fast as you can, and make sure that it is so

flexible and adaptable that it can be adapted to the customer's needs as you

move ahead.

However one looks at it, the Internet economy is growing at an amazing

speed. A study conducted by the University of Texas found that the Internet

is responsible for 1,2 million jobs in the USA alone, adding about US$301,4B

to the economy. They believe that the next 5 years will see as much change

as the automotive industry did in the previous 100 years.

Firms are realising that running certain services internally is simply not a

viable option. Outsourcing the provision of e-mail facilities to staff can

cost around US$5 to US$10 per month as opposed to in-house systems that can

run as high as US$500 per month. There are many factors that affect this,

but serious consideration needs to be given when deciding to clog-up

precious company bandwidth just because management insist on having their

Internet and mail server on-site rather than with an outsource company.

Providers of these services to commerce include Critical Path

websites via multiple T3 line (read: "very fast"), and include support for

MS FrontPage, audio and video streaming and e-commerce.

THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT

The Canadian Government has decided against regulating the Internet in

respect of local content. Its broadcast industry is subject to a minimum of

60% local content, but the broadcasting authority has decided that this will

not apply to the Internet. Regulatory authorities are slowly having to come

to terms with the impossibility of regulating content on the Internet. With

the freedom and high-speed exchange of information on the Internet comes the

accountability for what you access.

The online environment cannot be treated as a totally lawless society.

E-mails and other communications are frequently recorded in databases and

people's PCs. It has been reported that a US-based investment firm has fired

18 employees and disciplined 41 others for what it describes as

"inappropriate" e-mails. The moral of the story is that your e-mails live on

in servers and PCs everywhere and do not just "go away". They can be used

against you in the future, even if sent privately to a friend.

One useful proposal recently tabled in the European Union is that e-commerce

transactions favour the laws of the country where such transactions

originated. A simple ruling like this helps to unravel the complications of

multiple countries where EU laws possibly do not apply. If your business is

located in South Africa and you make a sale to a consumer in the UK, one

could use a rule of thumb that South African laws of commerce may be

applied. If you are going into a significant amount of international

business via the Internet, it would be wise to consult an attorney who

specialises in international trade.

The Internet has grown at great speed, largely because of the free and

collaborative way in which people have worked. The older, more restrictive

style of self-protection can be seen in the number of new patents being

registered, covering aspects such as design of tools and software programmes

in the USA. Protection of intellectual property is natural, but this

practice deviates significantly from the original practice of sharing, which

aided the Internet's meteoric growth. Even the business models many

companies are now using show a complete change from traditional models. More

companies now believe the more they can give away, the more business they

can generate.

New-world terrorists - computer crackers, virus authors and general

hackers - are being faced with an increasing number of cases against them. A

criminal protection system that may not have been geared to face these

criminals a few years ago is now gaining ground. The US FBI launches raids

on suspected computer crackers as part of their new crime-busting

operations. Although one may not be able to stop the individual's ability to

break into and disrupt computers, one can at least make the

"penalty-if-caught" tough enough to deter many from wreaking computer havoc.

LIVING WITH THE INTERNET

A supermarket in Florida, USA has opened a "Cyberlane" - a place where kids

can do their homework while their parents are doing the grocery shopping.

The centre is equipped with iMac computers, which are networked with a

nearby school. Students are supervised and can do homework while maintaining

contact with their shopping parents via shop-supplied 2-way radios.

Language is always a sensitive issue, one that French-based OECD recently

addressed. The organisation is reported to have found that 78% of the

world's web sites are in English. Amongst secure web sites that are usually

used for e-commerce, the figure rises to 91%. When looking at those secure

servers ending in ".com" (domains registered in the USA) the figure rises to

96% English. This could imply that more people could be reached using

English than any other language - even if the customer is using English as

their 2nd or 3rd language.

The next time you get really irritated with your computer, consider this

possible future scenario. MIT and IBM are working on technology to enable a

computer to detect the user's emotional state. This information can be used

to enable the computer to adapt itself to the user's state of mind!

Compared to the USA, Europe is a region that has lagged behind in Internet

growth. This trend is starting to reverse, with a new Dataquest survey

showing that European homes connected to the Internet have doubled in number

in the last year. It is said that 5% of homes were on the Internet in 1997.

This rose to 10% in 1998 and should reach 17% in 1999. They believe that the

"critical mass" will have been reached by year-end, after which the trend

should mushroom until most homes are connected. Fastest growth areas seem to

be Russia, France and Italy - countries that are suddenly waking up to the

Internet's potential for them.

The old and tired story of change being the only constant is supported in a

recent report by the Institute for the Future and Gallup, which shows that

the average worker is interrupted by telephones, faxes and e-mail every 10

minutes. Workers in the US now purportedly receive on average 200 e-mails

per day, while their counterparts in the UK receive 171, half of which come

from internal departments. Time management skills are of great importance to

all workers, to enable them to cope with the stream of interruptions and the

need for a high-touch, customer interface. One method is simply to learn to

use your e-mail programme, voice mail and time more effectively. Automatic

filters in your e-mail programme (look in the help menu for info) can

separate discussion lists and news, preventing the cluttering up your urgent

inbox, and a separate, private e-mail address can keep your private matters

out of your workday!

If you think you've reached the maximum you can cope with in the online

world, consider that international consulting firms, Inteco, Forrester

Research and Neilsen Media Research believe that the expansion of the

Internet will only peak around 2005 to 2010 in the USA. Less developed

regions of the world are likely to take quite a bit longer. Global

companies' CEOs are pushing things forward, with about 92% using the

Internet in 1998, while religions have turned to the Internet as a new way

to reach their members world-wide (along with satellite TV broadcasts).

Even the English language is keeping up with the Internet with words like

"snail mail", "applet", "geek", "digirati", and "mouse potato" being added

to new editions of the New Oxford Dictionary!

FEEDBACK

If you have a comment, request or suggestion on this report, please e-mail

it to Paul West at: pgwest@pgw.org. These reports are available on the

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ONLINE RESOURCES

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Web sites on Transactional Analysis (TA) and Neuro Linguistic Programming

(NLP)

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TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS RELATED WEB SITES

Julie Hay is one of the countries foremost practitioners of TA in its

application to Management, Organisational Development and Interpersonal

Skills. She runs AD International. The site offers details of services for

sale but also lists books and some questionnaires that can be used in

conjunction with TA training. She offers a free! 77-minute consultancy on

organisational, training and development issues. No freebie articles

however. (In addition Julie Hay is a qualified NLP practitioner).

Book Shop - Books relating solely to TA

Book Shop - A good detailed listing of books and videos available about TA

The Alan Chapman

Consultancy - Basic background information about TA and details of service

The International Transactional Analysis Association home page. Information

about the society and some basic background information. Not overly

informative about the topic its self.

The Institute for Transactional Analysis UK Web site. Similar basic

information as provided by the International site. However, it does list

practitioners and therapists who work in the UK so useful for that resource.

The European Association for Transactional Analysis European Web site. As

well as basic information this has an online discussion group/forum. So you

can ask your questions about TA here and be sure of a response.

A site dedicated to TA based in Ireland. Contains more than just basic facts

its slightly more in depth view of TA. There is also an annual newsletter

together with some monthly newsnotes.

This is a discussion group on TA to which you can subscribe. Odd route to

get there though: Click on the picture that appears, then on English Text.

Then link to the TA List Archive is at the end of the page.

The Manchester Institute for psychotherapy runs a more local discussion

group. There's not much else here that's immediately useful other than

background about the Institute, pity, it's a nicely designed web site.

The Transactional Analysis web based journal. A really useful site for news,

information and a wonderful range of interesting articles. There is also an

online discussion group.

The Berne Institute operates out of central England and has a web site that

advertises their services. That's all it provides however.

The USA TA association has a very interesting on line article that looks at

dealing with difficult people. Worth visiting.

NLP RELATED WEB SITES

Marlin NLP - A Provider's web site with some basic information and

background about NLP.

The Northern School of NLP - A providers web site with some basic

Synergy Online Bookstore. It contains some detailed reviews of NLP books and

literature.

Sensory Systems - A provider's web site with some basic information and

background about NLP.

The Developing Company - A provider's web site with more than just basic

information. It has a mass of interesting articles and further links.

Roberts Dilts home page one of the founding fathers of NLP. Rather

disappointing. It provides lecture schedules, products, basic background

information and some further links. It also has a monthly article written by

Dilts and some archived material.

Diane Beaver - A provider's web site with some basic information and

background about NLP.

McKenna Breen - A provider's web site with some basic information and

background about NLP.

A web site run by NLP Ednet. Unusual in that it looks at the use and

application of NLP from an educators or trainers point of view. It has some

interesting articles and content.

Great web sites run by NLP Resources. Contains masses of information and

lots of informative banter. Most of the links I am detailing here were

located from this site. Worth visiting.

An IRC (Internet Relay Chat) forum exists and this site contains transcripts

from some of the discussions that take place. It is also a commercial web

site advertising and selling NLP related products and services. A great site

worth visiting.

The Essential Skills Group run this web site. It contains lots of

information about NLP together with some very interesting articles that are

worth reading. A good site to visit.

Honest Abe's NLP emporium contains lots of book reviews an informative FAQ

section and further links. It doesn't appear to be a commercial site with

but some courses are detailed.

A fascinating site with lots of unusual NLP related links and information.

It also has some information on Emotional Intelligence and its links with

NLP. It provides a review of more than 100 NLP books. A good site to visit.

The Verstek Group - A provider's web site with some basic information and

some fairly detailed articles on NLP.

A good place to visit if you have no idea what NLP is. Run by the NLP

Information Centre, its name says it all. It provides and introduction and

information about NLP.

A great resource site with various NLP Modelling maps and structures being

held and available for download. Run by The Experiential Dynamics(tm)

Believe it or not there is a NLP web ring, to start your journey go to this

web site first.

Primarily a source site for locating NLP books and literature it has some

interesting articles available to read.

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"Enabling E-Commerce in India" Conference Results

The results if the e-commerce conference "Enabling E-Commerce in India" are

now available on the GIIC website. It is being updated on a daily basis with

the transcripts of the conference. The conference produced the first

non-government White Paper on e-commerce law and taxation in India, which

will feed into a consultative process between the private sector, government

officials, and international organizations to create an appropriate

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Telematics for African Development Consortium

P.O. Box 31822

Braamfontein

2017

Johannesburg

South Africa

Tel: +27 +11 403-2813

Fax: +27 +11 403-2814

neilshel@icon.co.za

www.saide.org.za

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